The invention relates, on one hand, to a body structure for an automobile, which has a structural component made of at least high-strength steel sheet.
On the other hand, the invention is directed to a method for producing a structural component for a body structure of an automobile.
In the automobile industry, in particular in the production of passenger cars, there is an increasing tendency to produce various structural components of the body structure, such as for example roof columns (A-, B-, C-columns) door reinforcements or rocker panels from high-strength or ultra-high-strength steel sheets having sometimes values in excess of 1000 MPa. However, particularly this use of the steel sheets shows weaknesses if the doors of an automobile involved in an accident can no longer be opened for rescuing the passengers. It then becomes necessary to cut certain structural components of the body structure so that the body structure can be opened or pushed apart to then allow the passengers to be rescued.
Although it is generally possible to sever each structural component by exerting a certain effort, the problem remains that the cutting force necessitates increasing efforts due to the employed high-strength to ultra-high-strength steels. These increased demands then result in a weight increase of the cutting tool, associate with significantly reduced maneuverability. This reduced maneuverability in conjunction with an increasing strength of the component on the whole prolongs the time required to rescue the occupants, preventing possible injuries to be treated with the required urgency.
To shorten the rescue time as much as possible, persons in the technical field have contemplated to provide so-called rescue cards for each vehicle type. These rescue cards, which should then be carried in the automobile, should inter alia indicate those locations of the body structure (passenger compartment) where structural component are made of high-strength or ultra-high-strength steels and provide instructions for circumventing these structural components so that less strong structural components can be cut without causing considerable problems. However, increased use of these steels has made it increasingly more difficult to work around these structural components made of high-strength or ultra-high-strength steels.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide, on one hand, a body structure for an automobile and, on the other hand, a method for producing a structural component made of high-strength sheet steel for the body structure of an automobile, which can still be easily cut in an emergency with separating or cutting tools.